2-12: GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS TYPES OF SOCIAL GROUPS
Society and Culture Classifications:
1. Group according to social ties
a. Primary
GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS b. Secondary
2. Groups according to self-identification
COLLECTIONS OF PEOPLE a. In Group
b. Out Group
c. Reference Group
3. Groups according to purpose
a. Self Interest Group
b. Task Group
c. Influence or Pressure Group
4. Groups according to geographical location and degree or quality of
relationship
a. Gemeinschaft. Urban
b. Gesselschaft. Rural
5. Groups according to forms of organization
a. Formal group/organization
b. Informal Group
GROUP SIZE
THE SOCIAL GROUP a. Dyad
Characteristics of a Social Group b. Triad
Group members interact on a regular basis through communication. c. Social Network
They affect and influence each other.
The members of the group develop a structure where each member TYPES OF FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS
assumes a specific status and adopts a particular role. Each member a. Utilitarian Org
accepts certain duties and responsibilities and is entitle to certain b. Normative Org
privileges. c. Coercive Org
The members of the group agree to some extent on important
norms, goals, and values. Certain orderly procedures and values are
agreed upon.
The members of the group feel a sense of identity. They think of
themselves as united and interdependent, somewhat apart from
other people.
3-13: CULTURE guidelines for social living. They are statements from the standpoint
Society and Culture of a culture of what ought to be.
3. Beliefs. Specific statements that people hold to be true
Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, 4. Norms. Rules and expectations by which s society guides the
law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired my man as a behavior of its members. Norms can be prescriptive (stating what we
member of the society. should do) or prospective (stating what we should not do).
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE a. Mores. Norms that are widely observed and have great moral
a. Learned. This process is done through experience and interaction significance between right or wrong. They are also known as
with other members of the group. Cultural learning depends on the taboos.
uniquely developed human capacity to use symbols. b. Folkways. Norms for routine, casual interactions such as ideas
b. Shared. Culture is an attribute not of individuals per se, but of about appropriate greeting and proper dress. They also include
individuals as members of groups. Shared beliefs, values, memories customary norms that draw a line between right and good.
and expectations link people who grow up in the same culture c. Laws. Institutionalized norms
through enculturation. d. Special Control. Various means by which members of society
c. Symbolic. Culture uses symbols in order to solidify the meanings to encourage conformity to norms.
which these symbols are attached LEVELS OF CULTURE
d. All-encompassing. Culture includes much more than refinement, - National Culture – beliefs, learned behavior patterns, values, and
taste, sophistication, education, and appreciation of the fine arts institutions shared by citizens of the same nation.
(“high culture”) among the “cultured; the trivial and popular” - International Culture – term for cultural traditions that extend
e. Integrated. Culture is not merely a collection of customs and beliefs, beyond and across national boundaries. This happened through
but are integrated, patterned systems such that if one part of the diffusion or borrowing.
system changes other parts change as well. - Subcultures – different symbol-based patterns and traditions
f. Transmitted. Cultural transmission (oral or non-oral) is done through associated with particular groups in the same complex society. They
enculturation, and from one generation to the next. originate in region, ethnicity, languages, class, and religion.
g. Dynamic. Culture is dynamic because it constantly changes. ISSUES IN UNDERSTANDING CULTURE
h. Adaptive and Maladaptive. Using cultural adaptive kits (customary Ethnocentrism. The tendency to view one’s culture as superior, and
activities and tools) humans biologically adapt to its physical apply one’s cultural values in judging the behavior and beliefs of
environment. If the adaptive tools threaten the group’s existence people raised in other cultures. It contributed to group solidarity, but
(survival and reproduction) culture can be maladaptive. oftentimes social conflict.
COMPONENTS OF CULTURE Xenocentrism. It is looking at one’s own culture as inferior, thus,
1. Symbols. Anything that carries a particular meaning, recognized by shifting to the favored culture of others.
people who share culture. These are things that stand for something. Cultural Relativism. The argument that behavior in one culture
Language is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate should not be judged by the standards of another culture. It could
with one another. also make or breaks social/group relations for it argues that there is
2. Values. Culturally defined standards by which people assess no superior, international, or universal morality, that the moral and
desirability, goodness, and beauty, and which serve as broad ethical rules of all cultures deserve equal rights/respect.
